Municipal Wetlands Data Strategy
Municipal Wetlands Data Strategy
Using wetlands data in municipal planning and wetland conservation
The Issue / Idea
Wetlands data is either unavailable or inappropriate to meet municipalities needs for planning and wetland conservation.
The Project
A problem faced by many (all?) municipalities in the Bow River Basin – urban or rural – is that wetlands data is either unavailable or inappropriate to meet their needs for municipal planning and wetland conservation.
The Miistakis Institute convened a workshop for municipal personnel in the Bow River Basin to collectively better understand what the wetlands data challenges are, and to collaboratively plot a course forward to address these needs.
The day involved presentations on the current situation, working sessions to clarify municipal needs, and ended with an effort to frame a strategy for securing municipally-relevant wetlands data.
The project was completed with the creation of a strategy for securing accessible, usable, current, consistent wetlands data.
Bow Basin Municipal Wetland Datasets: A strategy for securing accessible, usable, current, consistent wetlands data
Additional Wetlands Data Resources
Wetlands Datasets in the Bow River Basin: A Preliminary Catalogue of Wetlands Datasets Available to Municipalities
Organization
This project was undertaken by
The Miistakis Institute
Status
This research was completed in
June 2020
Supporters
Alberta Innovates – Water Innovation Program
Ecological Connectivity – Modelling, Planning and Municipalities
Ecological Connectivity – Modelling, Planning and Municipalities
Three guides to help to clear some of the cloudiness around ecological connectivity and municipal planning
The Issue / Idea
Municipalities face challenges in finding practical guidance for integrating ecological connectivity into the structures and practical realities of municipal planning.
The Project
Every municipal planning department in the Calgary region has faced the challenge of addressing ecological connectivity.
It can start from a variety of directions – open house feedback, a councilor request, a regional planning requirement, etc. It can carry many labels: wildlife corridors, linkage zones, structural and functional connectivity. However, two things are common to all of these cases. First, it is always based on the notion that species need to move to stay healthy and viable. Second, what a municipal planner can or should do about this is not clear.
As part of the Calgary Regional Partnership’s Ecological Conservation and Protection Initiative, Miistakis created three guides to help to clear some of the cloudiness around ecological connectivity and municipal planning.
As well as supporting municipal planners, these guides are intended to help those working with planners or who are affected by municipal plans. Understanding the way ecological connectivity is viewed through the lens of municipal planning will help others (including municipal councilors, wildlife biologists, conservation groups, land developers and builders) better understand the decisions and options that emerge in the planning realm.
Planning to Connect: A guide to provide clarity on what ecological connectivity might mean for a municipality, which plans and policies to target, and how. It also includes a searchable catalogue of example clauses from other jurisdictions and a document library of sample plans, reports, strategies, and cases from which to learn
Pulling the Levers: A Guide to Modelling and Mapping Ecological Connectivity outlines how the science can be used to give municipalities map-based illustrations of ecological connectivity.
Connecting the Dots: A Guide to Using Ecological Connectivity Modeling in Municipal Planning outlines how planners can acquire and use that information to address planning questions, working in partnership with their GIS staff or consultants.
Planning to Connect: A Guide to Incorporating Ecological Connectivity into Municipal Planning
Policy Clause Catalogue
Pulling the Levers: A Guide to Modelling and Mapping Ecological Connectivity
Connecting the Dots: A Guide to Using Ecological Connectivity Modeling in Municipal Planning
Organization
This project was undertaken by
The Miistakis Institute
Status
Completed in
2019
Supporters
Woodcock Foundation
Distributed GIS for Calgary Region Municipalities
Distributed GIS for Calgary Region Municipalities
Providing support for the Calgary Regional Partnerships’ Regional Metadata Guidelines
The Issue / Idea
How can municipalities in the Calgary Region effectively share and use GIS data?
The Project
In 2009, the Miistakis Institute began supporting the Calgary Regional Partnerships’ development of Regional Metadata Guidelines for GIS data management (Regional GIS or RGIS) to support planning within the Calgary region. The project’s objectives were to:
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- Create mechanism for cataloguing, exchanging spatial data
- Support and facilitate other CRP initiatives
- Promote standards & best practices among CRP GIS Community
Throughout the project, Miistakis was involved in all technical meetings, developed a Metadata Best Practices Guide and developed a variety of other technical tools and templates that allow for data sharing between municipalities.
Metadata Best Practices Guide
Organization
This project was undertaken by
The Miistakis Institute
Status
Completed in
2011
Supporters
Calgary Regional Partnership
Municipal Land Use Suitability Tool (MLUST)
Municipal Land Use Suitability Tool (MLUST)
A project to help municipalities identify where renewable energy (and other land uses) is most suitable in consideration of high valued
agricultural, ecological, and cultural lands
The Issue / Idea
How do municipalities balance development considerations with high value agricultural, ecological, and cultural lands?
The Project
When municipal governments consider industrial scale solar or wind energy development, it immediately becomes clear that not everywhere is suitable for those activities, and not everywhere is unsuitable. For some areas it is a clear-cut ‘yes’ or ‘no’, but most areas sit somewhere on a continuum between those two extremes.
The Miistakis Institute and the Oldman River Regional Services Commission (ORRSC) developed the Municipal Land Use Suitability Tool (MLUST) to assist the municipalities in identifying where renewable energy development is most suitable in consideration of high valued agricultural, ecological and cultural lands.
The MLUST process has been conducted for the Municipal District of Pincher Creek and the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass. For each municipality, the process took six months to complete and engaged municipal stakeholders, made use of existing spatial datasets, and produced a series of map products to inform planning at the municipal scale.
MLUST engaged the municipal council and staff to identify features they valued on the landscape. Each feature was scored by stakeholders to determine each features conflict with wind and solar energy development. The most suitable areas for renewable energy development coincided with low probable conflict rating of other land uses. Renewable energy development suitability areas were also informed by removing No-Go Areas based on provincial, municipal and organizational regulations and Non-Development Areas based on existing settlement and Infrastructure.
The MLUST process can be adapted to determine the most suitable lands for any type of land use, not just renewable energy.
Prior to the development of the MLUST process, a similar process was used with Wheatland County and the County of Newell called the Least Conflict Lands. This process was later refined to create the MLUST process.
Municipal Land Use Suitability Tool (MLUST) for Municipality of Crowsnest Pass
Executive Summary: Municipal Land Use Suitability Tool (MLUST) for Municipal District of Pincher Creek
Municipal Land Use Suitability Tool (MLUST) for Municipal District of Pincher Creek
Executive Summary: Least Conflict Lands: Municipal Decision Support Tool for Siting Renewable Energy Development
Least Conflict Lands: Municipal Decision Support Tool for Siting Renewable Energy Development
Organization
This project was undertaken by
Miistakis Institute
Oldman River Regional Services Commission
M.D. of Pincher Creek
Wheatland County
County of Newell
Status
MLUST Crowsnest Pass Completed in
2021
MLUST Pincher Creek Completed in
2020
Least Conflict Lands Completed in
2018
Supporters
Energy Efficiency Alberta
Rural Municipalities of Alberta
The INTACT Foundation
Energy Efficiency Alberta’s Community Energy Capacity Building Program
Wheatland County
County of Newell
Modelling Developable Lands in a Municipality
Modelling Developable Lands in a Municipality
A Planning tool to inform discussions around future development proposals and conservation planning facing municipalities today
The Issue / Idea
Municipalities are faced with development pressure on a continuous basis. How do they balance development considerations with conservation priorities?
The Project
The Developable Lands Planning tool was created to inform discussion around future development proposals and conservation planning facing the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass, Alberta. The tool overlays a series of user-selected map layers, then models them against ‘development considerations’ and ‘conservation priorities.’ Adjustments were done in real time in a multi-stakeholder workshop environment to help participants understand the consequences of various development strategies.
Developable Lands Planning One Pager
Developable Lands Mapping Tool Final Report
Organization
This project was undertaken by
Miistakis Institute
Status
Completed in
2006
Supporters
Municipality of Crowsnest Pass
Nature Conservancy of Canada
Rural Community Economic Development Program through the Crowsnest Pass Business Development Corporation and the Western Economic Partnership Agreement
Call of the Wetland
Call of the Wetland
A citizen science amphibian monitoring project to understand the health of Calgary’s wetlands and to engage Calgarians in urban wildlife and wetland awareness
The Issue / Idea
How can municipalities learn about their urban wetlands’ health while engaging residents in wetland awareness?
The Project
To better understand the health of Calgary’s wetlands, Miistakis Institute, Enbridge, Parks Foundation Calgary, Alberta Conservation Association and the Calgary Zoo developed “Call of the Wetland”, a citizen science program that enabled the public to monitor amphibians as an important indicator of wetland health. There were 6 amphibian species that have historically been found in Calgary, however, prior to Call of the Wetland, it was unknown which still persist in our urban environment.
Call of the Wetland engaged Calgarians in understanding the health of wetlands through monitoring of amphibians and enabling a connection to nature in the City. The long term outcome of Call of the Wetland is to build off of the knowledge gained on amphibian presence to understand the health of wetlands within the City of Calgary, as well as to continue to foster a community of knowledgeable citizens to champion wetland protection and restoration.
Call of the Wetland Story Map
Call of the Wetland Participant Update: Program Reporting
Call of the Wetland Website
Amphibians at Risk: An analysis of wetland habitat and corridors needed to secure amphibian populations in Calgary
Amphibians At Risk In Calgary: Infographic
Organization
This project was undertaken by
Miistakis Institute
City of Calgary
Calgary Zoo
Alberta Conservation Association
Status
Completed in
2020
Supporters
Enbridge
Parks Foundation Calgary
The Calgary Foundation
Alberta Ecotrust Foundation
Alberta Innovates
TD Friends of the Environment Foundation
Bow River Basin Council
Mount Royal University
Mount Royal University, Institute of Environmental Sustainability
STAR EcoWorks
World Wildlife Fund Canada
Urban Wildlife Monitoring
Urban Wildlife Monitoring
A citizen science monitoring project to understand how wildlife responds to the urban environment, and to engage Calgarians in urban wildlife awareness
The Issue / Idea
How can municipalities learn about their urban wildlife populations while engaging residents in wildlife awareness?
The Project
Calgary Captured is a multi-year urban wildlife monitoring program that was launched in 2017 focused on medium to large mammals. Through citizen science, the program involved Calgarians in biodiversity monitoring through the classification of camera-trap images to species. The objectives of the program are to build a dataset of species presence in Calgary, engage Calgarians in urban wildlife awareness, and to improve our understanding of how wildlife responds to the urban environment.
Calgary Captured Year One Analysis: Technical Report
Calgary Captured Year Results
Calgary Captured Year One Results: Maps
I’m A Calgarian
(example of one of six wildlife awareness cards produced)
Calgary Captured Information Card
(example of one of five Calgary Captured awareness cards produced)
City of Calgary: Wildlife Camera Monitoring
Organization
This project was undertaken by
The City of Calgary
The Miistakis Institute
Alberta Environment and Parks
Friends of Fish Creek Provincial Park Society
Weaselhead/Glenmore Park Preservation Society
Status
Began in 2017 and is
On-going
Supporters
The Calgary Foundation
Alberta Ecotrust Foundation
TD Friends of the Environment Foundation
Urban Wetland Connectivity
Urban Wetland Connectivity
A project to help maintain amphibian diversity and increase amphibian abundance in the urban environment
The Issue / Idea
How can municipalities support urban amphibian populations?
The Project
The goal of this project was to provide information to The City of Calgary to help maintain amphibian diversity and increase amphibian abundance in the urban environment. Three amphibian species, wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus), boreal chorus frog (Pseudacris maculata) and tiger salamander (Ambystoma mavortium) currently make Calgary their home. Key concerns for amphibians in Calgary are the impacts of wetland loss, wetland degradation, and fragmentation of the wetland network. We sought to understand which wetlands support amphibians and where amphibians are moving between wetlands in Calgary.
The modelling products include habitat suitability indices, connectivity models, and centrality and barrier maps designed to inform planning, management and restoration of the wetland network to support amphibians in Calgary. For this project, natural wetlands, modified wetlands and stormwater ponds were all included in modelling and are referred to in this report generically as wetlands.
Amphibians at Risk: An analysis of wetland habitat and corridors needed to secure amphibian populations in Calgary
Amphibians At Risk In Calgary: Infographic
Organization
This project was undertaken by
The Miistakis Institute
The City of Calgary
The Calgary Zoo
The University of Saskatchewan
Status
Completed in
July 2020
Supporters
Alberta Innovates
Urban Ecoroofs
Urban Ecoroofs
Exploring the impacts ecoroofs may have on climate change resilience in Alberta municipalities
The Issue / Idea
What impacts can ecoroofs have on climate change resilience in Alberta municipalities?
The Project
As cities develop, vegetation is typically replaced with non-permeable, non-vegetated surfaces. Ecoroofs are one way to provide some of the lost ecosystem services in urban centres including improved stormwater management (both quantity and quality), better regulation of building temperatures, reduced urban heat island effects, improved air quality, and increased urban wildlife habitat and biodiversity (Oberndorfer et al., 2007). Some jurisdictions refer to ecoroofs as a ‘no-regrets’ climate adaptation measure (Mees, Driessen, Runhaar, & Stamatelos, 2013) because they serve multiple societal goals.
Between 2017 and 2019, the Miistakis Institute partnered with the City of Edmonton, Environmental Strategies team to explore the impacts ecoroofs may have on climate change resilience in the city.
Ecoroof Guide for Municipalities
Ecoroof Fact Sheet
Edmonton Ecoroof Initiative for Climate Change Resiliency: Ecoroof Function Research
Jurisdictional Review
Edmonton Ecoroof Case Studies
Edmonton Ecoroof Website
Organization
This project was undertaken by
The Miistakis Institute
City of Edmonton, Environmental Strategies
Status
This project was
completed in 2019
Supporters
City of Edmonton
Alberta Ecotrust Foundation
Edmonton Community Foundation
Federation of Canadian Municipalities
Ecological Values Mapping
Ecological Values Mapping
Providing a visual representation of a municipality’s collective community and conservation values
The Issue / Idea
How does a community accurately map and communicate its most important values?
The Project
In 2007, concerned over mounting development pressure and threats to the landscape and traditional lifestyle of the region, the MD Ranchland approached the Miistakis Institute to help them identify community and conservation values that are important to the MD, and then to map these values as accurately as possible.
Through an open and inclusive process, Miistakis worked with the MD staff, council and residents to identify these values and then express them in a spatial/GIS context. The same methodology could easily be applied to different municipalities, and would be expected to result in the identification of different values.
MD Ranchland – Community & Conservation Values Mapping Project – Phase III Report
One Pager and Previous Phases
Community and Conservation Values Mapping
Organization
This project was undertaken by
The Miistakis Institute
Status
Phase I – data scoping completed in 2007; phase II – mapping tool and user guide completed in 2009; Phase III – enhanced mapping and communication support report completed in 2011
2011
Supporters
Municipal District of Ranchland
Alberta Municipal Affairs’ Municipal Sustainability Program